Important Changes in Medicine in the Past 10 Years and in the Next 10 Years: A Case Study Based on an Interview with a Nurse
Interview Analysis
Changes that may be observed in the field of the American medicine are important for people around the whole world. It does not matter whether a person is a patient, doctor or nurse, even some slight change or achievement may influence a case in some way. This message was the main idea in an interview conducted with a nurse from a hospital in California recently. Mrs. Jacobs, an interviewee, has been working at a local hospital for about twenty years. Her experience in the field of medicine is rich indeed. She has a kind heart and a burning desire to help people; this is why it was not a problem to pose her several questions during one hour, use her answers and find interesting material for a report. Her job, as an ordinary nurse, lies in assisting professional doctors. She works with numerous documents, prepares people for surgeries, treats them, and helps to find the required contact between patients, their families and doctors. On the one hand, this work seems to be too easy and minor. On the other hand, the field of medicine was not full without nurses. Mrs. Jacobs helps to understand that the last ten years have been crucial to the world of medicine: anti-smoking programs, unbelievable informational technology progress, ways of treating people with heart attacks, abilities to get an appropriate education in different parts of the country, and researchers connected with the human genome and stem cells.
One of the easiest ways to learn better the changes in the field of medicine over the last ten years is to surf the web and use new theories. Still, it will be some general information, brief facts, and interesting but “dry” material. The interview with a nurse, Mrs. Jacobs, helps to understand better a worth of medical achievements in a particular place with real people. First of all, she admits that existing anti-smoking programs reduce the number of smokers considerably. It leads to the fact that a lesser number of people addresses the hospital with cancer problems. In the last ten years, the nurse witnessed twenty deaths because of lung, liver and larynx cancer caused by smoking. In the last five years, she helps about ten people who had mouth cancer.
Another sphere of medicine that has been considerably improved is information technology. The point is that people get an amazing chance to save time and find the required answers within a short period in the past five years. Even old people are able to learn how to use iPads and find urgent information. There is no need to stand in long queues, visit libraries or call for a doctor as soon as some problem takes place. People are able to get online consultation and satisfy their hunger for knowledge in the sphere of medicine. Nurses may use information technology progress in order to have more time for real contact with patients instead of filling out different forms.
Conclusion
Finally, the sphere of education has been improved considerably that leads certain changes in the field of medicine. Stem cell research and the investigation of the human genome help to provide people with the required portion of treatment in time. Doctors are able to diagnose patients with HIV and cancer within a short period of time and choose the most appropriate treatment. Still, the nurse admits that appropriate education gains the leading role in medicine. Hsiao, Chou, and Chuang (2010) admit that, “the academic performance of doctors who received postgraduate study… is generally better than those without postgraduate studies” (157). People are in need of a good educational base in order to provide appropriate treatment in the future. Experienced nurses, like Mrs. Jacobs, admit that nowadays their stuff has been considerably improved by professional doctors. They are happy to enjoy the changes that took place over the last ten years and believe that the next five years will not bring any challenges for providers in the sphere of medicine.